20 best movies like The Mighty Macs (2009)

A coming of age drama following the life of Matt Hamill, the first deaf wrestler to win a National Collegiate Wrestling Championship.

Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery - with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin - manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.

In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.

The coach of a women's swim team parlays her success into an opportunity to build her school's men's golf team.

Based on the incredible true story, The Express follows the inspirational life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.

High school basketball is king in small-town Indiana, and the 1954 Hickory Huskers are all hope and no talent. But their new coach -- abrasive, unlikable Norman Dale -- whips the team into shape ... while also inciting controversy.

The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle -- a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team aren't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

In this uplifting film based on a true story, coach Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) shocks the community and changes lives when, aided by a local janitor (Bernie Mac), he sets out to form Philadelphia's first black swim team. But the odds are against them as they battle rigid rules, racism and more.

A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.

Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.

The film centers on a fight promoter (Mark Feuerstein) deeply in debt to his crooked rival. Desperate for a new fighter that will help him win back everything he owes, the promoter catches a break when a 450-pound church handyman (Paul "Big Show" Wight) who has spent his entire life in an orphanage agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans.

Hardened by years in foster care, a teenage girl from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood decides that wrestling boys is the only way back to her estranged father.

A teenager overcomes odds to run a 4-minute mile race.

Set in the competitive world of modern agriculture, ambitious Henry Whipple wants his rebellious son Dean to help expand his family’s farming empire. However, Dean has his sights set on becoming a professional race car driver. When a high-stakes investigation into their business is exposed, father and son are pushed into an unexpected situation that threatens the family's entire livelihood.

When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

A Taiwanese high school baseball team travels to Japan in 1931 to compete in a national tournament.

The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.

A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.

A BMX racer, who lives in a small town with his mother and sister, is faced with a tough decision, qualify for Helltrack or take his SATs in order to attend college.

Alfred “Boogie” Chin is a basketball phenom living in Queens, New York, who dreams of one day playing in the NBA. While his parents pressure him to focus on earning a scholarship to an elite college, Boogie must find a way to navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation.

Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.

Zamperini returns to California where he wound up marrying Cynthia Applewhite while wrestling with untreated PTSD, suffering constant nightmares, angry, bitter and deeply depressed, his wife convinces Zamperini to attend the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade.

A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team

A biographical drama based on the life of fictional Haryana based wrestler & mixed martial arts specialist Sultan Ali Khan.

A legendary trainer comes out of retirement to help an underdog boxer fight his way to a better life.

Antoine and Kenny Tyler are NCAA college basketball players, and Antoine is the star. Suddenly Antoine dies of heart attack and Kenny has to fill his shoes as leader of team. Some time later, Antoine returns as a ghost and helps Kenny in game and in life, but Kenny changes in the process and doesn't quite like it.

A native-American lacrosse team makes its way through a prep school league tournament.

Based on a true story, a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series.

Wrongfully accused and sent to prison, a former basketball star prepares for the national slam dunk competition while finding redemption in himself and in those he loves.

Follows the story of Miguel Santos, a. k. a. Sugar (Algenis Perez Soto), a Dominican pitcher from San Pedro de Macorís, struggling to make it to the big leagues and pull himself and his family out of poverty. Playing professionally at a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, Miguel finally gets his break at age 19 when he advances to the United States' minor league system; but when his play on the mound falters, he begins to question the single-mindedness of his life's ambition.

True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.

A young man aspiring for recognition of his talents battles against his estranged father's sentiment towards him as the father deals with his own demons.

Oversized African-American, Michael Oher, the teen from across the tracks and a broken home, has nowhere to sleep at age 16. Taken in by an affluent Memphis couple, Michael embarks on a remarkable rise to play for the NFL.

A former high-school football star loses his shot at a college scholarship due to a devastating gridiron injury, but gets a second chance at living his dream.

As bareknuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the top of the boxing world.

Soul Surfer is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton. Bethany lost her left arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through her sheer determination and unwavering faith.Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) was born to surf. A natural talent who took to the waves at a young age, she was leading an idyllic life on Kauai, participating in national surf competitions with her best friend Alana (Lorraine Nicholson), when everything changed. On Halloween morning, a 14-foot tiger shark came out of nowhere and seemed to shatter all her dreams.Soul Surfer reveals Bethany's fight to recover from her ordeal and how she grappled with the question of her future. Strengthened by the love of her parents, Tom (Dennis Quaid) and Cheri (Helen Hunt), and supported by her youth group leader Sara (Carrie Underwood), Bethany refuses to give in or give up, and begins a bold return to the water.

Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams

Spitz is the German-Jewish coach of the football team Macedonia during World War II. Under his leadership, the team fights to become the champion of Bulgaria's National Football League

The true story of boxer, Jim Braddock who, in the 1920’s after his retirement, has a surprise comeback in order to get him and his family out of a socially poor state.

The powerful story of Jackie Robinson, the legendary baseball player who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The film follows the innovative Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey, the MLB executive who first signed Robinson to the minors and then helped to bring him up to the show.

The story of three Russian Olympic champions. Ordinary people, who have become the pride of their family and country, and made history of world sports.

Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.

Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.

Faced with the suspicious death of their father, two brothers must motivate one another to get back on their bikes and take the Las Vegas Motocross Championships by storm.

The dramatic and inspirational story of a young pitcher who becomes the first woman to play Major League Baseball.

On these streets everyone is fighting for a way out, but after a lifetime of hard knocks, a down-on-his-luck cage fighter gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is chosen to compete against the MMA world champion during a massive competition. The stakes are high and the reward great...but should he lose, it will cost him his life.

Brilliant in his studies and dismissive of athletics, Ronald finishes high school at the top of his class. But in college his uptight attitude doesn't win him any points with his sports-loving classmates, and pretty coed Mary ignores him in favor of brutish jock Jeff. Hoping to impress Mary, Ronald makes a buffoon of himself at every sport imaginable.

Unable to cope with his military father's sudden death in combat, quick-tempered teen, Conor, starts getting into serious trouble. During an intense lacrosse camp, his father's old friend challenges Conor to get his life on track and become a man.

Heather and Heidi play volleyball for their school team, when their family decides that they need to go to a bigger school so that they will have a better chance for scholarships. But at the new school, the twins are discovered by the basketball coach. Inspired by the true story of Heather and Heidi Burge.